The Young Weapon
by zat'n'katelgurl08
Summary: SG-1 captures an assailent while exploring an abandoned research facility. When questioned, the attacker reveals origins that surface memories from Ronon's painful past. Is this an enemy to be wary of, or Ronon's last chance at the life he could have had?
1. The Forewarning

It is a quiet mid-afternoon on the Atlantis Expedition-designated planet P5X-434. Its rolling hills covered in a coat of the early morning's snowfall stand still as the oncoming sunrise reflects its beams to reveal the glossed symbols of the Dialing Home Device. A sudden energy surged the ground beneath as the inner ring of the Stargate began to rotate, and when the seventh chevron completed the dialing sequence, a violent cone of water flushed horizontally out of the Gate, shaking off the powdered snow. After the cone smoothed out into a rippling plane of water, Captain Evan Lorne emerged through with several biologists and armed military personnel following not far behind. Lorne tightens his padded gloves and proceeds with the mission objective.

"Alright, SG-7: You're following Banks and me east towards the gorge, and SG-8, you're going with Zelenka and Karlen into the north complex. Marines send the MALP back to base and guard the Gate until we get back. We'll check in with you in 8 hours."

They were approaching the complex when a mumble came from the fur-clad Zelenka:

"We should probably head back sooner." He activated his Lantean detection device. "I'm picking up foreign energy readings coming from the complex. There's no indication that they will cause any harm but we don't know what will happen if we're exposed for long time periods."

The creaking entrance opened to release the unusually warm humidity of the room into the dry winter. The armed soldiers scanned the darkness of the entrance to a hallway, while Zelenka's team cracked open what seemed to be a power conduit and worked to activate the electrical lights overhead.

The young Dr. Karlen used a computer cord to connect the power conduit to her research screen. After a few moments of flying gibberish, the screen uploaded the rigid structure of the room they were standing in, including the nine dots representing their locations. As her fingers danced across the screen, the blueprints of the room produced a more vivid image, revealing more detail. When the screen automatically zoomed out of view, it revealed that the complex actually spanned several hundred feet below the planet's surface. After this amazing discovery, she analyzed the data of the system's manifest further before calling Dr. Zelenka over.

He gazed at the screen and clicked on the side buttons for more readings only to be met with partial static. "Are the systems activated in the lower levels of the complex?"

"I can't tell, doctor" replied the timid Karlen. "The power conduit must have been damaged or rusted because most of the data on the lower levels has been compromised. We don't know what's down there; we just know there's more to this building than just this floor."

"Captain Murphy!" Zelenka called the head of SG-8 over to his position. "Dr. Karlen has just indicated that there are many more levels than what was detected by the _Apollo_. I would suggest that we radio Atlantis to call for another team's assistance before we proceed to the lower levels."

Captain Murphy agreed and immediately ordered the Marines to activate the Stargate to send a message to Atlantis. He then turned back to Dr. Zelenka.

"Alright, SG-9 and SG-10 are headed our way. They'll be here in about an hour" assured the Captain. "You think this was a Genii facility?"

"That's unlikely," murmured the slender Dr. Rink "seeing as how this facility isn't powered by nuclear fission reactors but rather by the planet's geothermal energy. I would say this was a Lantean research outpost if it wasn't for the rusty control panels."

Once the lights flickered to life, SG-8 followed a series of hallways accessed from the building's information database.

They were led to the control room located beyond a wall at the end of two perpendicular hallways. After the room was deemed vacant, the scientists walked in to discover a complex system of decaying wires and rusted conduit boxes. An elevated platform was located to their right and beyond a field a storage units were a set of blast doors covered in dust and cobwebs. The scientist team set up their research posts and began to analyze the structure and the one conduit box responsible for experiment data storage from this supposed Lantean outpost…

While standing guard out side the main control room of the complex, Captain Murphy heard a shuddering thump in the distance. He reached for the radio on his left shoulder.

"Gibbs: I caught a disturbance near your position. Do you see anything?" A chilling silence succeeded his call. He heard a shattering of glass, and called to the other officer. "Simon: Gibbs isn't responding to his radio - something's up in the northeast corridor."

The young mocking voice of Lt. Simon responded on the other line, "My east or your east?"

"You're hilarious, Joe," said Captain Murphy, not amused "just go check it out."

After a few moments of radio silence, Simon responded: "I got a broken lamp on the approaching hallway. But I'm not seeing any sign of Gib--"The transmission was interrupted by a loud groan and a thump.

Murphy rushed towards the intersection where he found the broken glass ridden on the ground next to the two unconscious soldiers. He turned his automatic weapon in the direction of the slight wind draft. With no doors or windows in sight, he crouched down to check Gibbs' pulse when he felt a sudden pressure wrap around his throat. After he fired a few bullets to defend himself against the unseen enemy, he experienced an intense surge of electrons through the nerves of his spinal cord. The paralyzing electric shock brought him to his knees and his body's numbness was followed by a slow slip into warm sleep…

The sound of automatic weapon fire echoed through out the hallways of the complex towards the main control room where the team of scientists turned in alarm.

When the youngest member of SG-8 poked his head out of the door to find no sign of the rest of his team, he handled his radio to attempt to reach the team leader.

"Sullivan to Captain Murphy: I'm reading gunfire. What is your current situation?" But all he and the research team heard was the chilling radio static. Lieutenant Sullivan took out the Lantean device, which had been adjusted by one of the scientists before the mission, and expanded the detection field to fit the entire complex. There were five visible dots located in the southeast corner of the complex where the scientist team was working, while four dots were situated only a few yards away from their position.

The roar of gunfire rang out once more. "Stay here!" barked the Lieutenant. Sullivan drew his Wraith stunner and sprinted down the hallway. Despite his earlier warning, the scientists quickly followed after.

When he reached the scene to find no trace of SG-8, he scanned for them using the detection device. The dots from that position still remained from his previous outlook of the complex. According to the readings, the team was right on top of his current position. He looked around trying desperately to find the other three men, when he saw a black stump protruding out from the grey stone wall. He peered closer to the stump and saw the partial letters of the Atlantis Expedition badge. Sullivan came to a conclusion, activated his device once again, and calibrated the settings to scan the density of the surrounding hallway. To his horrifying revelation, he detected a six-foot-tall human figure lodged in the depth of the wall, along with two other figures. He immediately reached for his radio and called SG-7.

"This is Lieutenant Sullivan requesting _immediate_ assistance at 27° W 90° N at the north complex!! I've got three men down requiring medical assistance!" he smoothed his hand over the solid wall "…and deconstruction equipment!" At that moment, the four members of Zelenka's research team arrived at Sullivan's position, but immediately went silent. The lieutenant turned to see their frightful facial expressions.

"What are you doing, doctors?! The area's still compromised, get back to the control room!" But before he could bark any other orders, he saw what they were staring at. Inscribed on the opposite wall using automatic weapons fire was a two-word warning: "STAY OUT"…


	2. The Assailant Revealed

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Stargate franchise or its storylines. My intention is not infringe upon those rights, so please don't sue me.

**The Young Weapon**

Chapter 2: The Assailant Revealed

Back on the Atlantis base, Dr. Jennifer Keller was adjusting the vitals on the recovering members of SG-8. Mr. Woolsey walked into the infirmary followed shortly by Colonel Sheppard who had just returned from an Air Force board meeting on Earth.

Dr. Keller greeted both men with a cheery attitude despite the current situation. She removed the helmet from her orange protective suit as she moved the plastic curtain which surrounded a section of the infirmary. "Hello, Mr. Woolsey, and welcome back Colonel Sheppard. Congratulations on your promotion, Sheppard. What can I do for you?"

"Thank you" replied Sheppard, "we just came to check up on SG-8's status. They aren't too banged up, are they?"

"Well, other than a few sprains and bruises," assured the doctor, "they'll be fine. Despite the fact that these two men were placed in a wall, the attacker fired automatic gunfire into the wall before putting them in there creating air holes, which allowed for them to breath."

"Then what's with the plastic?" said Sheppard.

"And where is Captain Murphy?" followed Woolsey.

"When we ran a scan on Gibbs and Simon, we found a foreign element in the nerve system running along their spinal chords," explained Keller. "It doesn't appear to be affecting them apart from their injuries, but you never can be too careful. As for the Captain, he hasn't returned. But his subcutaneous transmitter is still working, so at least we know he wasn't killed by the attacker."

"How do you figure it was an active human assailant?" asked Woolsey.

"There was a message on the opposite wall inscribed with the same gunfire: 'STAY OUT'" said Sheppard.

"Once the rest of SG-8 was extracted from the wall and brought back to base, I noticed there was blood in Lieutenant Gibbs' mouth," explained Dr. Keller. "It couldn't have been his own because when we examined him, there weren't any visible lacerations in his mouth or anywhere else on his body, nor that of his teammates. The attacker left SG-8 without a scratch."

"Which means we're not dealing with an amateur… maybe military-trained?" asked Woolsey.

"It's a little too early to say…" Sheppard rebutted.

Dr. Keller nodded in agreement. "SG-8 reported that they couldn't see whatever or whoever was staging the attack. But before Lt. Gibbs was stunned, which he could tell wasn't by a Wraith-class stunner; he seemed to bite down on something before he became unconscious. I just sent the sample to the lab to be analyzed."

"So as far as we know," summarized Woolsey, "it's not an animal we're dealing with."

"Hey, you never know," grinned Sheppard, "in this galaxy, anything can happen."

At that moment, an Asian man in medical uniform walked into the infirmary and handed Dr. Keller the clipboard he had in his hand. Dr. Keller received it and began to read it. A troubling expression crept over her face as she read on.

"You gonna tell us, Doc?" asked Sheppard. "What does it say?" As Dr. Keller described the results of the blood analysis, Mr. Woolsey and the Colonel perked up in surprise.

Before she could explain further, there was an abrupt interruption caused by a voice on the base's intercom system: "SG-1 and SG-4, please report to the briefing room…"

The two men stood up to leave. "You need to come up to the briefing with this," Sheppard requested. "The rest of the team is gonna want to know about this, along with what Zelenka and his team found out." Then both men and Keller exited the infirmary…

*****

Senior personnel from all the departments, McKay, Teyla, Woolsey, and SG-4 gathered in the briefing room, and as they sat at their seats, Sheppard and Keller opened up with the mission briefing:

"We've come across a slight obstacle on P5X-434. SG-8 returned yesterday at 0900." Sheppard stated. "They were ambushed by an assailant who is yet to be identified." Dr. Keller stepped forward with the test results in hand.

"According to the analysis of the blood found in Lt. Gibbs' mouth, SG-8 was attacked by a Replicator." The room reflected the same reaction as Sheppard and Woolsey. "But there was also human DNA cells fused with the nanites. This might explain why when Lt. Sullivan used his Lantean detection device, he detected everyone but the assailant; the scanner couldn't distinguish between the two anatomies, so it barley detected the attacker at all."

One soldier from SG-4 spoke up. "How can we be sure that there isn't more than one attacker?"

"I can answer that!" Zelenka leapt out of his seat with his data screen. "We took a closer look at the readings the research team brought back from the planet's complex system. We were unsuccessful in locating any camera recordings of the corridors at the time of the attack. But we were able find something better." He turned on his data screen and the briefing room's LCD screen activated to display the layout of the research facility. "The heat generated from the planet's core powers a unique detection system which can scan for heat signatures located within the rooms and hallways."

His fingers flew across the screen as the image of the layout focused on the hallway adjacent to where the three soldiers of SG-8 were found unconscious.

As the camera panned to adjust to the wall's view, the screen revealed one figure representing Gibbs' heat signature. As the multi-colored soldier stood guard in the hallway, a short figure emanating slight radiation crept out from the far corner. It appeared to be a female with long curly hair and an athletic build. After rounding the corner, she simply walked towards the lieutenant and stood behind him.

She placed her hand over his mouth and the next image the people of the briefing room saw was Gibbs falling to the ground as the female caught him to let him down easily. She remained stationary for a few moments while small red dots trickled from her left hand to the ground beneath her. She ripped a strip of fabric and seized the belt from Gibbs' unconscious figure to tie around her hand. After securing the belt tightly across her palm and wrist, she dragged Gibbs to a dark corner.

"That explains the blood…" Dr. Keller suggested.

"I don't get it, why didn't Gibbs see her?" inquired McKay.

Before anyone could answer him, the female shifted quickly and flattened herself against the nearest wall. The uniformed Lt. Simon speaking on the radio was seen walking towards Gibbs. While briskly walking down the corridor, he obviously passed the female figure who glared at him, ready to pounce.

As Simon was about to turn the corner where Gibbs laid, the female wrapped her arm around his neck and he also fell to the ground. She quickly looked around before taking Lt. Simon's automatic weapon. She cocked the gauge of the gun and sprayed gunfire along the wall. She dropped the gun and picked up Lt. Gibbs, but turned towards the footsteps of the oncoming military man entering from the next hallway.

The female stood still on one side of the hallway while Captain Murphy ran into the scene of the attack to find the two members of SG-8 lying on the ground. As the alert man scanned the empty hallway, the female playfully crept around him and waved a hand across his shoulder, at which he immediately reacted to. She slid her arm into the middle of his back and he hit the stone floor.

Before shoving the third man into the wall, she removed the radio strapped to his shoulder and the IDC pad from his wrist. She turned towards the oncoming footsteps of multiple pursuers and, with Captain Murphy's weight hoisted on the arm around her shoulder, ran out of the screen's visual range. The screen switched off and a deep murmur flooded the room.

McKay's pessimistic voice lifted over the many side conversations: "Great…a 90-pound assassination machine who takes prisoners. This universe is never boring, is it?"

"It hasn't been confirmed that anyone else has visited that facility for a long while," Teyla countered. "Most likely, she was just defending her territory."

Captain Hale, leader of SG-4, interrupted. "I don't think so…the way she was circling those guys before whatever she did to knock them out, it showed all the signs of a hunter."

"I agree," said Sheppard, "but like Teyla said, we haven't found any evidence to suggest that she aiming to take us out. I'm thinking she took Murphy along with his radio and IDC pad to get a heads-up if we go back there. Though I still can't figure out why those guys couldn't see her."

Zelenka interjected with his scientific opinion once more. "When we were watching the footage, we noticed that she was giving off slight forms of radiation. At first, we thought it was just body heat, but perhaps her body gives off the same radiation that an Ancient invisibility device does--"

"We need to go back there." The murmurs fell silent, and the attention of the room was once again focused on Colonel Sheppard, who was still standing at the front of the room next to Dr. Keller.

Woolsey broke the silence. "This thing obviously knows the layout of this complex better than we do. With those abilities and the skills of a hunter, we would be going in blind."

"If what Zelenka said is right," Sheppard said, "she might try to dial in with the IDC and sneak into onto the base. If she can extract the IDC from Murphy along with other sensitive information about Atlantis, we would probably be able to track her, but she could do some serious damage."

McKay finally gave into Sheppard's plan. "We could probably calibrate the devices to detect heat signatures instead of life signs."

Sheppard turned to Woolsey. "All we need is the go-ahead…"

The room full of scientists and soldiers alike turned toward the civilian lead administrator. He looked back into the anticipating face of Colonel Sheppard and replied, "So authorized. Proceed with the mission, Colonel." Then, in a matter of seconds, the briefing room was empty…

*****

After strapping up and calibrating the detection devices, SG-1, SG-4, and Zelenka's science team met in the Gate Room. As the inner circle of the Gate rotated and locked onto the seventh glimmering symbol, the horizontal flush of water whooshed from the Gate and settled into a calm rippling plane.

As the eleven Atlantis members were about to step through into P5X-434, Sheppard was stopped in his tracks by Dr. Keller's radio call.

"Infirmary to Colonel Sheppard: there's been an update from Gibbs and Simon," she called through the static of his shoulder radio.

"This is Sheppard," he answered, "talk to me."

"One of the medical staff was trying to run a body scan on Lt. Gibbs," she said, "when he noticed that Gibbs wasn't responding to the doctor. We put them both under the scanner and discovered that other than there heartbeats, every cell in their bodies has been rendered dormant. I checked the results twice before I remembered that foreign element that was detected earlier."

Eager to return to the planet, Sheppard asked impatiently, "I need you to get to the point, Jennifer."

Jennifer complied. "It seems the foreign element released an enzyme that rendered there bodies dormant, a lot like the parasite that took over McKay's brain a couple months ago."

"Oh, don't remind me," McKay groaned at the memory.

"I think we need to bring the attacker back before it gets any worse. Although the enzyme hasn't shown any Replicator characteristics, she might be able to point us in the right direction." Keller suggested.

"What makes you think she would know how?" Sheppard asked.

Keller's static voice sprung from the radio speaker. "While watching the video in the briefing room, I noticed that she struck the soldiers at specific points on their bodies so as to knock them unconscious without killing them," which would suggest that she has thorough knowledge of the human anatomy.

"I suggest we apprehend her first, and then decide whether it's safe to bring her back to base," said Teyla.

"Alright, let's go!" ordered Sheppard.

And with their anti-Replicator weapons in hand, the eleven-man team walked through the Gate. They were immediately pulled into the aqua-blue tunnel of the Stargate wormhole, before entering the sunny but frigidly cold climate of P5X-434…


	3. From Hunter to Capture

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Stargate franchise or its storylines. My intention is not infringe upon those rights, so please don't sue me.

Author's Note: This is only the third chapter I've posted up, but comments from the readers are _very_ much appreciated. I would love to know how well I'm doing or if I suck altogether…

**The Young Weapon**

Chapter 3: From Hunter to Capture

Once inside the stone facility, Teyla and the science team strapped into protective suits and scanned the hallway where SG-8 was attacked to find signs of the foreign bacteria affecting Lt. Gibbs and Lt. Simon. They set up in the control room to study the samples while Sheppard, McKay, and Captain Leonard of SG-4 explored the other hallways located deeper within the facility. After an hour of traveling and descending down stairs, they were dropping glow sticks to mark their path when they received a radio call from Dr. Zelenka:

"We've scanned the area to discover that the origin of the bacteria were the lights attached to the hallway ceiling. We've sealed off the area for now, so we will decontaminate and will join you shortly."

"Copy Zelenka. We'll get back to the Gate in six hours to report back to Keller on Atlantis," Sheppard responded while taking out his Lantean device. On the small silver hand-held screen, there were four clustered, orange-yellow dots representing them, along with a separate red dot in transit beeping a few levels down. "Meanwhile, we're closing in on our slippery friend."

"I still don't understand why we didn't bring guys," McKay shrilled. "Three armed men were hoodwinked by this girl, what makes you think us three can take her down and bring her back?"

"First of all," Sheppard reeled his head towards McKay and whispered, "so long as you can _shut up_, we can maintain whatever element of surprise we have to our advantage. Plus, we have scanners, ARWs, and the benefit of hindsight. Have a little faith, Rodney."

They continued to make their way down to the core of the facility when the separate red dot stopped moving and remained stationary in the level below them. Sheppard slightly opened the door to the floor below and poked his anti-Replicator weapon in both directions. He waved the rest in and they crept down the hall.

At the end of the corridor, they arrived at a door leading to another large room where the red dot was located. The colonel flattened himself against the wall to the right of the door and placed his hand on the door handle. He mouthed a countdown and when the door flew open, they all pointed their weapons into the dark room, where they heard a muffled voice calling out from the darkness.

The three men's flashlights scanned the dark abyss attempting to locate the voice when McKay tripped over something attached to the floor. Before McKay hit the floor, all three weapons were already pointed at the obtrusion resting against the wall: an ebony-skinned, muscular man tied by the knees and wrists with a gag over his mouth.

"Murphy!" gasped McKay as he stood up from the soot-ridden floor. "You're alive! My God, you scared the crap out of me!"

"Of course he's alive!" Sheppard whispered as he unsheathed his knife to cut the captain's restraints. "Are you injured?"

"I'll live, sir. She carved something into me, though," Murphy replied. "The attacker was female, 5'9'', long bro--"

"Yeah, we know, Murphy" Sheppard interrupted, "mission's to find her and bring her back." He removed a sidearm from his holster and gave it to Murphy, and all three men cleared out of the room to find their hidden hunter…

Sheppard pushed the button on his radio to contact the group of scientists in the control room. "Sheppard to Teyla: bogey's comin' your way!"

As the hand-held device tracked the female attacker's heat signature which had doubled-back to return to the surface level, the four men twitched in every direction, emptying every corner of the hallway.

Captain Leonard approached the door leading to the facility's upper levels. He was about to access the stairway when the door slammed into his face, breaking his nose and throwing him to the ground.

McKay and Murphy instinctively pointed their anti-Replicator weapons toward the entrance but were disarmed before they could mount any defense. The next thing they knew, they both felt a jolt of electricity surge through their spines and they fell to the ground - a sensation all too familiar to Captain Murphy.

A pair of armored fists rained down on Sheppard as he fell to the ground with his other team members. The upstairs access door closed while he writhed in pain on the hallway floor. The space between them began to shift in color and dimension, and his attacker was revealed as the athletic female attacker seen the briefing room video.

Her long brown hair was draped over her steel-padded soldiers and cast a shadow over her glaring brown eyes. Her rose lips were upturned in a smirk while she assessed her success under the fluorescent lamps illuminating the hallway.

In a different situation, Sheppard would have found her attractive. He would probably be hitting on her if she wasn't hitting _him_.

He attempted to pull a knife before the young woman's foot slammed on his wrist. With the buckled boot pinning his broken wrist to the dirt-ridden stone floor, she crouched down to knock him unconscious with one violently fluid movement. After picking up the anti-Replicator weapons and throwing them down the corridor, she grabbed his other wrist and dragged him to the opposite side of the hallway.

"I'm pretty sure nobody's told you this, Sheppard" she muttered as she turned over his limp body onto his side, "but you're _so_ predictable. I still can't figure out how you've survived in this universe for so long. In the future, I recommend you change your style." She reached behind her to unsnap an item from her belt: a severed appendage of a small animal or insect, "but for right now, I win this round." With the item in hand, she ripped open the colonel's sleeve, and the smirk was wiped from her face.

Her forehead furrowed into stressed seams as she examined Sheppard's immaculate arm, free of bruises or scars. She ripped open the sleeve of his other arm to found the same result.

"What the hell?" she muttered. Placing the appendage on the floor next to Sheppard, she went to pick up his head when a burst of energy flew down the hall and engulfed her torso, causing her to convulse and finally fall to the ground next to Sheppard.

Teyla kept the end of her anti-Replicator weapon pointed towards the young woman lying next to Sheppard as she crouched next to him to shake him. The other soldiers from SG-4 followed her down the hall to care for Captain Leonard, McKay, and the injured Murphy.

"John…" she said as she shook his shoulder. "John!" she repeated, and he slowly regained consciousness. Teyla helped him rise to a sitting position, taking care not to touch his broken wrist. "Are you alright?" Sheppard held up his forearm. "Other than that…"

"Just bruised my pride, I guess. I've been a colonel for a few weeks and then…" he trailed off as Teyla stared at him with obvious boredom. He turned and nodded at the body lying on the floor. "Who's this chick, anyway? You ever seen her before?"

Teyla stood up and walked over to the woman. "I cannot say that I have…" She flicked away a lock of curls to check her pulse when she saw a black marking located on the middle of her neck comprised of three dots and two bold vertical lines, the last of which connected to an inverted have crescent. Teyla recognized the symbol and looked at Sheppard.

Sheppard understood Teyla's implication. "Although, that does look a lot like Ronon's tattoo - Satedan military…"

Teyla stood up and motioned to the other soldiers to come and restrain the attacker. As they secured her wrists with plastic cuffs, Teyla turned back to Sheppard. "Lieutenant Sosa received a radio call from Dr. Keller about ten minutes ago while guarding the Gate. She said that the medical conditions of Lieutenant Gibbs and Simon have not change and suggest that we bring back the young woman back to Atlantis."

"Alright, then…" Sheppard agreed. He sluggishly attempted to lift himself from the ground before Teyla reached out to help him. His raised finger prevented her from performing any other assistance. He shook his head a little and stood up on his own. "I can do this…my sinuses are little cleared up…but I'm fine." And while the tense Teyla finally relaxed by letting a slight smile creep into her face from the ends of her lips, Sheppard hobbled down the hall leading up to the surface…

*****

In a small stone village on the post-Renaissance setting of Edowin, young girls playfully skipped along the lanes of the street market occupied by food and product merchants, and boys threw a small felt ball to each other while running back and forth in revolving intervals.

Up in the heart of the Thumin Mountains, the few members left of the Satedan army had set up a military instruction school to train the raising adults of the village how to defend their new home.

In one of the granite rooms of the mountains, a muscular six-foot-tall soldier sparred with an almost equally skilled adolescent male. An audience of old soldiers and new trainees watched while two men in a marked section of the room struck at each other with their bronzewood batons.

The muscular man's long locks snapped back and forth while the adolescent student attempted to disarm his instructor. The man deflected the student's strikes with what seemed like little effort until the student charge forward and spun to deliver a backswing to the man's torso and wrist. But the student's victory was short-lived as the disarmed man punched the boy's side and caught the forearm in his grip, flipping him onto the padded ground. Slightly embarrassed and sustaining minor injury, the teenager was helped off the mat by the instructor.

"Not a bad start," the muscular man encouraged, "but I'd probably suggest you shield your left side a little more. I can tell you're right-handed, but don't let your opponents see that." A small grin flashed across the student's bruised face. "Besides, you lasted a lot longer than most of my students…" he smirked as his gaze floated across the stone room to the other instructor Tenek - an adult man with black, cropped hair, matching in age with the instructor.

"Don't look at me like that, Ronon," the man muttered, and then turned to speak to the other students. "Take a break, guys. When we get back from the village feast, we'll start training on automatic weaponry." When the teenagers had departed, Tenek noticed the blood dripping down from Ronon's forearm.

The two men chatted while walking from the descending mountain trail towards Tenek's home in the Satedan community, "I was never your student, Dex. We grew up on the same street, we worked at your father's repair shop together, and if I remember correctly, _you_ were the one who ended up following _me_ to military school. The only reason you won that fight while we were on leave was because we were sparring on the mud-soaked terrain behind your house."

Ronon grinned at his childhood friend. "Yeah, and the sun was in your eyes. And you saw Hemi's sister in the street behind me," he chuckled, "still doesn't change the fact that I have bragging rights…however little I get to use them."

"Hey, that day wasn't exactly a loss for me," Tenek rebutted. "Divya ended up taking me home that night and - *ahem* - treated my wounds… a year later, we got married. I count that as a win." Both men let out a boisterous laugh and turned the corner into the front yard of Tenek's home to find a caramel-skinned woman with flowing black waves of hair stepping over the threshold. Tenek walked up to embrace the woman with the basket in hand, and the three of them walked into the stone cottage. They all sat at the table in the kitchen while Divya dressed up Ronon's wounds.

"Thank you for all of this, Divya," Ronon gestured to his arm and the crumb-ridden plates on the table.

"It is certainly my pleasure to have someone who enjoys my cooking," she tweeted. "Do you have a place to stay for the night?"

Ronon shrugged. "Actually, I'm not gonna be staying for very much longer. I think I'll be heading back soon." Before he could continue, a small giggling child ran into the kitchen carrying a felt ball in her pudgy hands. She squatted behind Ronon's chair and playfully peeked over his shoulder to Tenek, then leapt out and pounced onto the man's lap.

"Ronon, this is my three-year-old daughter. Nieka, say hi," Tenek whispered to the child.

"Hi Wonin," the little girl cooed. The father kissed and tickled the child while she squealed gleefully. The playful atmosphere of Tenek's home warmed Ronon's heart, but the grin from his face slowly disappeared as the ghosts of his past sullied the wonderful moment.

He shifted his chair and stood up from the table. "I'd better get going. Thank you again for dinner, Divya."

The father shooed his daughter off to bed to stop Ronon before he walked out the door. "Hold on, Ronon. What's your rush? You alright?"

"I'm fine," Ronon scoffed, "I just gotta get back before my friend sends a team to look for me." Tenek hesitated but finally gave in to Ronon's departure. He held out his hand and Ronon firmly clutched it with his own. "Thank you, Tenek. I, uh, haven't felt this at-home in a long time." He removed his gun from the hook on the front door and strapped it onto his waist, then he stepped over the threshold and ventured down the village street towards the Stargate…

*****

Mr. Woolsey sat in his office with the Lantean setting sun's rays shining in. Suddenly, he heard the familiar whoosh of the activating Stargate on the floor below and rushed to the control room down the hall. After ordering the energized shield to be raised to cover the Gate, Chuck received a streaming signal on the control room's main screen.

"It's Ronon's IDC," Chuck said. "He's dialing in 38 hours early."

Woolsey ordered Chuck to drop the shield and casually descended the stairs into the Gate room. The security officers of the Gate room aiming their weapons at the Stargate lowered their arms when Ronon stepped through the rippling plane of water.

"Welcome back, Ronon," Woolsey greeted. "How were the talks with your people on P4D-716, and your fellow Satedans residing there?"

"Pretty good," he replied as the Stargate powered down. "The Edowin Counsel agreed to trade their harvest for medical supplies from Atlantis, but only on the condition that we send someone over to fix a problem with their ZPM-powered irrigation system… I don't recommend sending McKay, though - they have a custom of sharing fruit with each other at the end of their meetings," he added.

The Atlantis commander nodded his head. "That will have to wait until our current situation is resolved." He began walking back up the stairs, "we'll brief you in a moment, but for now, the Daedalus is in orbit for a com-link meeting." Then Woolsey ascended the stairs once more and Ronon was left standing in the Gate room. Feeling out of place with little to do, he walked out of the spacious room and into the hallway where he ran into Amelia Banks.

"Hey, Mia," Ronon called out, "where's Sheppard, Teyla, and McKay?"

"Well, you've been away for three days - a lot's happened since then," Amelia responded. Ronon stared at the control room technician while he expected explanation, and she finally gave in. After explaining the events of the past few days and strolling along Atlantis' corridors, Ronon tried to mask his feelings of offense.

"And no one tried to call me before they went back?" Ronon asked.

"Yeah, about that…" she trailed off. "Sheppard gave everyone strict orders not to contact you while on your visit to the Satedan settlement. Besides, I think Sheppard needed a softer touch on this particular mission, since they were up against an opponent they couldn't even see."

"Oh, please…as if Sheppard's touch is any softer than mine," Ronon humphed.

Before they could discuss further, a monotone male voice rang over the base's speaker system. "Unscheduled off-world activation!"

Ronon and Amelia doubled back to the Gate room and arrived just when Sheppard, being assisted by Teyla, and McKay walked through the Stargate. SG-4 and Captain Murphy followed close behind carrying a make-shift gurney with the unconscious female attacker.

Dr. Keller entered in through the opposite hallway with assistant medical personnel. She pulled out a penlight to examine her pupils when the young woman on the gurney suddenly began to violently convulse.

"Contact the infirmary," Keller ordered, "tell them to move a crash cart and ventilation system to the central isolation room! We're coming in with a seizing patient…Let's move!" Keller and the four other uniformed doctors rushed to push the padded gurney down the set of stairs and into the southbound hallway, and then disappeared around the corner…


	4. Interrogation Confusion

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Stargate franchise or its storylines. My intention is not infringe upon those rights, so please don't sue me.

**The Young Weapon**

Chapter 4: Interrogation Confusion

The young female lay motionless on the infirmary bed at the center of the isolation room. Her eyelashes fluttered as she regained consciousness. Her black-rimmed hazel eyes were adjusting to the garish lights of the round room when she felt a sudden choking along the length of her throat.

In her blinding panic, she reached up to find both her wrists and legs strapped to the cold steel bars of the bed. Her eyes darted around and saw a petite Asian doctor with a stethoscope around her neck. To the doctor's objection, the woman struggled against her restraints before she bent her head down to forcibly pull out the tube with her blood-stained bandaged hand.

"Please hold still, miss," pleaded the silk-haired doctor, "stay still or your IV will rip out." Finding herself stripped of her armor and hidden knives, the patient grunted to free herself from her restraints without much success. Out of her peripheral vision, she saw the automatic entrance slide open. Her body relaxed when she recognized John Sheppard strolling through the door.

She closed her eyes, muttered an explicative, and angrily hit the back of her head against her pillow. "Fine, Sheppard, you got me. I guess you took my advice sooner than I thought."

"Do I know you?" Sheppard snapped.

"Ha, you better," scoffed the woman, "I remember branding some reminders on your musclemen." She scanned Sheppard up and down, "but there isn't a scar on _you_. Did you pump yourself up with more Wraith enzyme than usual?" Sheppard simply stared at the woman with his arms crossed. Her eyes wandered to Sheppard's splinted forearm. "How's the wrist?" she smirked.

Dr. Saitama's rubber-gloved hands reached out to the woman's face. "Miss? Do you know your name? What is your name, miss?" But the patient just stayed silent. "Are you feeling any tightness in your muscles or chest?" the doctor continued. "any flashing lights or black spots?"

"I always feel like that, lady," she harshly replied. "It's nothing new…what's your point?"

Saitama attempted to reason with the young woman. "Our intention isn't to harm you, miss. We're trying to help you so that you can help us."

She stared at the clueless doctor and spoke to Sheppard, "Who is this?" She turned to the doctor, "Are you new or something?" She flashed a glance to Sheppard, "did you not clue her in, General? Because you people should know by now that I hate repeating myself."

"We don't know you!" Sheppard snapped. "Let me clue _you_ in on something, little girl. I'm a Colonel. You don't ask the questions, _we_ do. First of all: who the hell are you, and why did you attack my men?"

The woman ignored Sheppard's interrogation. "Why are you downplaying yourself? Is this some kind of new mind game, cuz it's aggravating." She was met with an unfamiliar mixture of anger and confusion on the Colonel's face.

"_You're_ aggravated?" he whispered. "Two of my men are in a coma up in the infirmary because of whatever is in those stupid light bulbs on P5X-434! We know about your little disappearing act and all the tricks up your sleeve. You're not getting out of here any time soon, so you better answer some questions right now, starting with your name…"

Her eyes drifted away from Sheppard's intense gaze as she put the pieces of the puzzling situation together in her head. She shook her head and chuckled at her amazing luck.

Everything clicked together and she refocused on Sheppard. "My name is Naima…_Colonel_…I'm Satedan, and you're wrong: I'll be getting out of here sooner than you think." She tugged upward on her restrained hands.

A sharp intake of breath later, she swiftly fell through the bed and the floor of the isolation room, leaving Sheppard and Dr. Saitama alone with the empty bed and medical machinery.

"Sheppard to Control Room: the prisoner is loose!" he yelled through his radio and he sprinted out the sliding door. He was met by Ronon and Teyla who had been watching through the glass windows of the observation room. "SG-1 is in pursuit. Can you lock on her current position?!" Sheppard and Teyla split at the fork of the hallway while Ronon set his gun to "kill" and ran ahead towards the base of the central control tower…

Naima phased through the off-white ceiling of the wide hallway and landed on her feet next to a ceramic water fountain. The scientists and armed soldiers in the corridor stood wide-eyed with surprise before the security officers began to pursue her. In a swift blur of motion, she punched and dropkicked every one of the pursuing officers in her path before taking a single soldier and throwing him up against the glass window. Leaving the battered men on the floor of the corridor, she stood in shock at the view of the ocean's rolling waves.

Her moment of panic was interrupted by a speeding burst of energy across her shoulders. She flattened herself against the wall and saw Lieutenant Sullivan of SG-7 firing his anti-Replicator weapon in her direction. After grabbing a Wraith stunner from one of the unconscious officers and firing back, she ran aimlessly in the other direction, looking for another means of escape.

Using her powers once again, Naima phased through the floor into the hallway below and continued running until she saw a huge, muscular figure pouncing out from her peripheral vision. She pointed the Wraith stunner at him, but then stood frozen in the sunlit hallway.

With widely horrified eyes, she looked into the eerily familiar eyes of her opponent. She shook with fear as she processed the image of the fearless armed man in her mind. This can't be the same person, she thought to herself. This man died long ago, but he lived on in her memories. But this couldn't be the same person - he was younger, his hair was longer, and furthermore, he stood there pointing his gun at her.

"_Papa?!_" she whispered. Her words barely escaped the lips of her now arid throat.

Ronon stared at the strange young woman for a few moments. He glared into her pleading eyes and attempted to make sense of her words. Neither of them saw the automatic doors of the transport elevators slide open revealing Captain Lorne and SG-8 carrying ARW's. The captain fired another burst from his weapon which engulfed Naima in the debilitating field of energy. She convulsed violently while still staring at Ronon and fell on her knees then laid on the cold floor.

Ronon still had his weapon pointed at her with the evident look of confusion on his face. Before she went completely limp, her bandaged hand reached out for Ronon's ankle. He quickly moved it away from her reach, and strained to hear her repeat her previous words: "_Papa_…"

He payed no attention to SG-8 as they swooped in to lift the motionless body off the floor. Teyla ran in from the end of the hallway and joined Sheppard who had also just entered the scene. The colonel issued orders to the present officers while Teyla stood next to Ronon, who had now lowered his weapon but was still staring at the young Satedan. He studied her strained face as she was carried down the hall towards the southern isolation chamber.

"Ronon, are you alright?" Teyla asked, breaking his confused trance.

"Yeah," he replied. His body began dizzily walking towards the transporter while his mind lingered on the features of the young Satedan.

_No way - that can't be the same girl_, he wondered. _Not my girl…not my Naima..._

*****

Dr. Keller sat in a swiveling chair squinting at the computer monitors in her office. Clicking the letters on the keypad, the computer shifted to different views of the enzyme ravaging the bodies of Lieutenants Gibbs and Simon of SG-7.

McKay had entered the room just as Keller rubbed her tired eyes and glared at the screen with apparent frustration. He walked up next to the woman and kissed her on the head as he handed her a mug of coffee.

"You look exhausted, Jennifer" McKay said. "It's 3 am. You've been staring at these screens since before lunch. You should really get some sleep."

"You're right, I should," Keller reasoned, "but I need to figure out how to neutralize this enzyme, Rodney. If I don't, they could be in that vegetative state for the rest of their lives. I've been staring at Murphy's tests all day and all I could extradite from the information was that there were ADP-like proteins resembling adrenaline left in his system. But other than that he experienced the same circumstances as Gibbs and Simon, but _something_ was different. What was it?" She took a sip of the coffee and continued. "What was I even thinking - asking them to bring her back here? I may have just put this base in danger for nothing, because she's clearly not willing to help us."

"If there's anything that I know about Sheppard, it's that _he_ made the decision to bring her back to base, even after she beat the crap out of us and broke his wrist," McKay mused. "He wouldn't have brought her here if he didn't think you could convince her to help us."

His light expression faded when he saw Jennifer's defeated expression. "You're not going to find the answer like this. After working with Carson for a few years, he showed me that the answer didn't come to me until I had a few hours of sleep. Although admittedly, you're not as cheery as I am, but a little bit of rest couldn't hurt."

She finally gave in and turned off the monitors. After rising from her chair, she took the mug of coffee in one hand and intertwined her fingers into McKay's hand with the other…

*****

In the defused blue lights of the isolation chamber, Naima felt the familiar cold slab of floor under her cheek. She muttered an explicative to herself and slammed her fist to raise herself from the floor. She sprung up in front of the energy-lined wall of the cell and saw a uniformed officer with an anti-Replicator weapon in each corner of the room.

She spun toward the beeping sound of the chamber doors. Once again, the doors opened as Sheppard and a blond doctor entered the room. Immediately recognizing the doctor, the tension in her body momentarily melted away.

"Dr. Keller," she timidly greeted.

"You seem to know a lot about us," Jennifer timidly smiled in response. The doctor's gaze was drawn to Naima's bandaged hand, now a mahogany color from her dried blood. "Do you want me to look at that? Are you bleeding anywhere else?"

"I'm fine," Naima hissed. A few tense moments went by until she spoke up again. "You people are _sick_, you know… Whatever you did with my father's body after I escaped, that was a new low."

"Whoever your father was," Jennifer pleaded, "please know that we would never murder any Satedan. They're our allies now."

"Then who was that man in the corridor?!" Naima yelled. "The one who was looking at me like he'd never met me before?"

Sheppard and Keller came to the same conclusion and turned to each other. "Who…Ronon?" Sheppard asked. "Ronon Dex is your father?" Naima crossed her arms in response.

Before confirming any of their assumptions, Sheppard and Keller turned to see Mr. Woolsey enter through the sliding door.

"Forgive my tardiness," Woolsey announced, "any updates, Dr. Keller?" When they refocused on Naima, they were startled to see her glaring at Woolsey with furious intensity.

"We brought you here because we need your help, Naima," Keller digressed. "I have a feeling you know extensively about the human anatomy, seeing as you incapacitated SG-7 so swiftly." Though she still hadn't shifted Naima's intense gaze, she continued with her proposal. "Two of our men are lying in the infirmary because they were attacked by an enzyme which paralyzed their bodies. Do you know anything about this enzyme or how to destroy it?"

"You can forget it, Keller…and _you_" she hissed as she pointed at a slightly rattled Mr. Woolsey, "_you_ can go to hell, cuz that's exactly where you're going when I get out of this cage."

Woolsey attempted to defend himself. "Excuse me, miss, but I don't believe we have ever met!"

Fueled by pure rage, Naima ran herself against the energy-laced isolation chamber. She bounced off the shield and slammed onto the floor. Surprised by her reaction, Sheppard, Keller, and Woolsey reacted by leaping away from the chamber's edge while the surrounding officers raised their weapons.

"That's it, we're outta here," Sheppard muttered as he nudged Keller and Woolsey towards the exit. "She's not gonna help us…"

*****

The next afternoon, McKay sat in the mess hall next to Keller chomping away at his lunch and explaining his latest research discovery:

"…it might seem strange, but the crustaceans on the ocean's surface form a thin layer of scum which actually reacts to moonlight! Yeah, _moonlight_! Using the deluded form of sunlight reflected off the moons, they catalyze a more complex form of photosynthesis to produce oxygen and steam which neutralize the poisons from crustacean feces. It's remarkable, it-it" he finally looked over to see Keller picking at her tray, having not listened to a word McKay just said.

"Jennifer? Are you alright?" McKay asked with half of a bread loaf in his mouth. He swallowed and chuckled a bit. "Sorry, I know this isn't very interesting to you. I guess I just had to tell someone besides Radek."

"I'm sorry, Rodney," Keller put down her fork and ran her fingers through her blond hair. "I just can't get my mind off Naima. She's so hostile, y'know? Where does all that anger come from?"

"She's been stuck in a vacant facility alone for who-knows-how-long," McKay smirked, "I'd go nuts too."

"There are just so many unanswered questions around this girl," Jennifer's thoughts wondered. "It's just - I have this gut feeling like she knows how to cure those men. If only I could get to her somehow…"

Walking between the tables of the mess hall, McKay saw Ronon walking towards them before he stopped in front of their table. "Sorry, Keller. McKay I need to ask you something science-related." McKay wasn't used to any inquiries like this from Ronon, but nodded his head accordingly.

"At any time when the Replicators were messing with our heads, could they have gotten to something…deep?" Ronon asked. "A memory buried so far back in my head I never think about it?"

McKay and Keller glanced at each other before he spoke to Ronon again. "Is it a painful memory?" McKay suddenly gasped. "Is this about Naima? Cuz I heard from Sheppard that she thinks you're her father. Honestly, that wouldn't be much of a stretch. The apple doesn't fall far from--''

"Just answer the question, McKay!" Ronon snapped.

"Okay - uh, maybe," McKay straightened up, "maybe the Replicators could've obtained some sensitive information and transferred it to Naima, but I think it's highly unlikely. She's not showing any indication that she can merge with the other Replicators, probably because of her partial human physiology. And anyway we're nowhere near--'' but before he could finish sharing his theory, Ronon was gone.

Rodney finally finished his lunch and threw a dirty napkin onto his tray. "Well, all I know is that whatever she thinks we did to her convinced her enough that she's never gonna wanna help us."

"Yeah…" Keller softly agreed. "Still can't figure out how Captain Murphy managed to--'' And at that moment, an epiphany struck Jennifer Keller like a bolt of lightning. "Oh my God…oh my - Rodney, what were you saying earlier?"

"That she's an insanely hostile Satedan who would never wanna help us?" McKay guessed.

"No! About the crustaceans in the ocean outside…" Keller tried to recall the discovery Rodney was so enthusiastic about earlier. "You said that they use the deluded form of sunlight bounced off the moons to create something that neutralizes the poisons in the water?" McKay simply nodded again. "Oh Rodney! Thank you!" she quickly pecked a kiss on McKay's cheek and picked up her tray to exit the mess hall.

Despite the fact that McKay was now alone at the large table, Rodney slowly picked up his tray and walked out of the lunch hall with a slight swagger…


	5. Last Defiance

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Stargate franchise or its storylines. My intention is not infringe upon those rights, so please don't sue me.

Author's Note: Whoever actually follows my stories, I'm really sorry about the major delay in posting new chapters. Maybe next time it won't be a six-month hiatus…

**The Young Weapon**

Chapter 5: Last Defiance

Beyond the glass walls enclosing the lead administrator's office, Woolsey sat at the desk with his hands clutched together. He and John Sheppard were casually running through base procedures when Dr. Peter Kavanagh marched in from the adjoining bridge from the control room. He paused in the doorway until Woolsey abruptly looked up from his files and waved him in. Sheppard rolled his eyes when he recognized the stubborn doctor.

"Can we help you, doctor?" Woolsey inquired.

"Three guesses at what this is about…" Sheppard muttered.

Kavanagh glanced back to reply to the colonel behind him: "And you would guess right Colonel Sheppard." He turned to Woolsey and forcefully flattened his hands against his desk. "As a former member of the IOA, you, of all people, should know that keeping the Satedan prisoner into custody without supplying proper hospitalities such as food and water is in direct violation of the Geneva Convention."

John's disdain was visibly apparent. "What do you expect us to do? Put her in the presidential suite?"

Woolsey calmly responded, "If it weren't for the fact that she possesses such powers that we may or may not have complete knowledge of, we would accommodate her needs. However, that is not the case. Seeing as slightly opening the isolation chamber could put this base and the people residing here at risk, I cannot allow those needs to be met."

"She hasn't exactly demanded a breakfast platter" Sheppard remarked.

Yes - because you haven't offered any medical treatment to the prisoner!" Kavanagh snapped at Sheppard. "If that prisoner ends up dying, I'm reporting both of you to Stargate Command…"

"Let's be real Kavanagh," John realized, "what's with you and her well-being?"

Woolsey's furrowed forehead relaxed as he caught Sheppard's drift. "You wish to test on her, don't you?"

"Well aren't you a hypocrite?" Sheppard added.

The doctor's jaw clenched. "While she does exhibit extraordinary abilities, it has been proven that human cells and nanites coexist in her system. Studies on these could go a long way in our defense against the Replicators. I'm not suggesting we cut her open or inject her with anything. All we need is a tissue sample and daily body scans." The double whine of the Stargate immediately ceased the discussion.

Sheppard's shoulder radio buzzed, indicating that SGA-5 was prepared for the next off-world visit to M7G-677. Sheppard stood up from his chair and before he walked out of the office, he glanced back to the doctor, "Drop it Kavanagh," he sternly concluded, "it's not gonna happen." Woolsey nodded in agreement, and both men left the agitated doctor in the vacant room.

*****

Back in the isolation chamber, the neon green numbers of the digital clock clicked over to 3:00am. Naima laid on the stone floor in a crouched fetal position as the four armed soldiers sat at each corner of the chamber.

At just the time when one of the soldiers was about to drift off, he was awoken by the sudden surprise of static from his shoulder radio. "Commence change of the guard number seven at 0300." All four soldiers rose sluggishly and exited the chamber while Naima laid motionless with her eyes glazed over.

A second went by before four considerably younger soldiers exchanged positions with the previous armed men. The four men stepped into the room and simultaneously noticed the alarming emptiness. In a sudden bout of panic, the junior soldiers whipped their heads back and forth and squinted into the chamber to discover that the Satedan prisoner was nowhere to be found. The team leader left the three armed men and ran into the observation room in the next hallway. After he rushed through the slowly sliding doors, he found the Lantean control panel integrated with the multiple LCD screens lighting the images of seven men in the isolation chamber - the four previous guard members, the two new guards still clearing out every corner of the chamber room and one putting out an APB to all other security personnel.

The lieutenant clicked on the familiar double-triangle key to rewind the last few seconds of the footage. The figures of the three armed men blurred as the screen depicted the backwards motion of the soldier exchange. Then, he clicked on the triangle play button and the motion recalled the image before they had arrived. The lieutenant watched intently as the previous four soldiers sluggishly left the chamber. It seemed as though the last soldier to leave walked out in front of the caged Satedan and swiped her image from the screen - one section she was in the chamber, the next she was gone. After they left, the chamber remained empty until the lieutenant saw himself entering the screen with his panicked expression.

In the confusion of all the Lantean keys of the control panel, the team leader clicked the button of his shoulder radio. "This is Lieutenant Fields contacting any SGA team leader - requesting permission to scan the isolation chamber!" When only met with static, he repeated his transmission. After another agonizing moment of radio silence, the lieutenant scanned the various keys marked with Lantean symbols. He located a large key with three bright zigzag lines and hesitantly pressed it.

He twitched his head up to see the result of his haphazard action. The center LCD screen showed the armed men in the isolation chamber. One second, they were surveying the corners of room - and the next, all seven soldiers pointed their Anti-Replicator Weapons in the direction of the whooshing sounds of the deactivating electronic cage.

Fields spurted out an explicative and started running back into the isolation chamber with his ARW, but found that he was too late. Naima instantly reappeared in the chamber. The chamber's door had only slightly slid open when the stone had shifted under the armed guards' feet. Their bodies fell through the floor as Naima rose and exited the shielded chamber. Fields ran into the room and was met by Naima's flying fists.

After forcing Fields' weapon away from him with lightning speed, she kicked his feet from under him and flipped him onto his stomach. Keeping him down with her knee on his back, Naima pulled Fields by his sandy hair with one hand and phased her hand through his back with the other.

"You have one chance to be honest with me, Lieutenant Fields," she hissed into his ear. "Where are my weapons?"

"Kiss my ass, Sheila!" he yelled back. To this response, Naima slammed his head against the stone ground, leaving the team leader unconscious with a broken nose. She stood up and phased through the isolation room's closed doors. She looked down either end of the hallway and ran down the corridor…

*****

In the infirmary, Dr. Keller squinted at multiple computer monitors. They displayed the blood platelets of the two soldiers lying in the quarantined section of the infirmary. Keller scanned the streaming data trying to ascertain a medical correlation between Lt. Gibbs and Lt. Simon that could lead to the same illness. Growing frustrated, she pulled out Simon's medical history and searched for the treatments he received while stationed on Atlantis.

While recalling the past two years of working on Atlantis herself, Keller had a sudden moment of clarity. She pulled out Gibbs' folder and realized the connection - but still couldn't figure out which course of treatment to start the lieutenants on. She gently placed the folders next to the computer and held her head in her hands.

"You're not giving up, are you?" Keller whipped up to see McKay standing in the doorway.

"No…" Keller sighed. "I just…don't know what to do. I wish Beckett was here - he had a way of dealing with quarantines ten times worse than what I've got here."

"Well," McKay wrapped his arms around her, "Beckett knew where his limits were. You need rest, Jennifer."

Keller sighed and rose to replace the medical files in the cabinet. She turned back to see that McKay was met by the business-end of a Wraith stunner.

"Don't…move," whispered the curly-haired Satedan. "Don't say anything. Just start walking." McKay and Keller glanced at each other. "Both of you. Let's go." She motioned to the entrance with her weapon.

"Where are we going?" McKay asked as they walked down the hallway.

"Show me where the jumper bay is…" Naima calmly responded, "…and you'll find out." The three stopped at the end of the corridor where the path forked into two hallways. "Which way?"

"It's to the right, but it's two levels up," he pointed out. Before they could take the indicated path, Sheppard and twelve armed soldiers appeared at each end of the hallway. They were about to discharge their ARWs when they saw who Naima was standing with.

"Hold your fire!" Sheppard ordered the security officers. "Put the stunner down, now!"

Naima quickly grasped the doctors' arms and pulled them towards the wall to their right. The brightly lit hallway disappeared as Keller, McKay, and Naima phased up thru the levels of the central tower…

…They finally fell out of the wall into the dark chamber which housed all of the base's puddle jumpers. Naima landed in her feet while McKay and Keller laid disoriented on their stomachs.

"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Keller blurted.

"I know I'm gonna be sick!" McKay began hyperventilating.

Naima grabbed them by their jackets and pulled them towards the nearest jumper. After they phased through the shuttle door, Naima forcefully sat McKay down in the pilot's seat and Keller in the passenger position.

"Get this ship online," Naima ordered.

"What makes you think I'll do that?" McKay asked defiantly. "Ronon's threatened that he'll shoot me a thousand times, but ultimately, he's harmless. So you know what? I'm not worried!"

"You saw your Captain Murphy, right?" Naima asked.

"Yeah? So what?!" McKay snapped.

"That soldier interrupted me. Do you realize how many walls there are in that facility?" Naima paused while she waited for McKay to put the facts together.

McKay realized her implication and slowly activated the ship's manual controls. "Where to?"

"The mainland," Naima responded.

"Are you nuts?" McKay retorted. "Do you know how many contaminants-'' Naima glared at the doctor with Satedan intensity.

"For God's sake, Rodney, just get us there…" Keller goaded.

Rodney turned back to the ship's controls. "You know what? Fine! But if I catch some alien virus…mark my words - heads will roll!"

Naima's aggravation boiled to the surface. She twitched as she rose the stunner to McKay's temple. "Your head is gonna roll unless you shut up!" Naima retorted. "I'm surprised you mouth hasn't gotten you killed."

McKay clenched his jaw as he elevated the jumper through the hexagonal-shaped door in the bay's ceiling. They flew up and out of the base's flight tower, towards the uncharted forests of the mainland…

*****

Within a few minutes of Naima's jumper escape, the control tower came to life with scurrying technicians and security officers darting across the Gate room. Mr. Woolsey rushed out of his office and onto the South bridge, where he was joined by Sheppard, Teyla, and SGA-3, all walking while strapping on their weapons and radios.

"What's their head start on us?" Sheppard panted as they sped down the hallway.

"They've only just left," Woolsey rushed, "but at the speed they were traveling, the control room estimates their arrival at the mainland in half and hour."

Dr. Owusu, member of SGA-3, nudged her way to the front of the convoy. "I should warn you, Colonel: the science team has been analyzing the weather patterns on the mainland for the past few months," she raised her data table and poked at the screen, "and if we're going there to rescue Dr. McKay and Keller, we need to do so before 0700." She held the screen in front of Sheppard for him to glance, "we've discovered that a periodic cold front that occurs every 18 weeks collides with the constant humidity of the island to form dry storms."

"A little bit of rain isn't gonna be a problem, doc," Sheppard scoffed.

"Maybe not," Owusu urged, "but the thunder will. While precipitation will be minimal at best, the thunderstorm will ignite the forests to perpetuate its naturally-occurring nutrient cycle. The mainland will be a complete inferno in approximately four hours."

"Then let's not waste any time. Suayan - take the passenger seat controls while Summers opens the shuttle bay doors," Sheppard ordered as the group turned the corner into the jumper bay. "Teyla and I will take the lead."

"Sheppard! Hold on!" a robust voice resounded from the hallway. Teyla and Sheppard spun to see Ronon jogging into the jumper bay: "I'm going with you."

"I don't believe that's the best course of action," Teyla replied.

"She's right," Sheppard affirmed, "the girl's unstable. Just seeing you might set her off."

"Don't treat me like a liability, Sheppard," Ronon snapped. "You guys refused to call me on this and it's only gotten worse. She's Satedan - I'm Satedan - I'm pretty sure I could level with her."

After a moment of hesitation, Sheppard gave in. "Fine, let's go." All three marched up the ramp to join SGA-3 in the puddle jumper. Sheppard sat in the pilot seat and the ship came to life with lights illuminating the dashboard.

As Lt. Suayan lifted the controls to elevate the small ship, Sheppard swiveled around to speak to Ronon seated behind him: "Is Naima right? Is she your daughter?"

"No…" Ronon paused, "Yes…I don't know…"

The colonel glanced at his troubled friend, aware of his painful past. "I know you're not a liability, Ronon, but this girl is. Doesn't matter who she thinks you are. When it comes down to it, _you're_ the one who has to choose the setting on your gun."

Sheppard rotated back forward to see the schematics screen blink in front of them, displaying the atmospheric activity around the land beyond the dashboard. As the distance shortened between the jumper and the mainland, the alien storm grew murkier - much like the storm brewing in Ronon's heart…


	6. The Alien Reality

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Stargate franchise or its storylines. My intention is not infringe upon those rights, so please don't sue me.

**The Young Weapon**

Chapter 6: The Alien Reality

Thunder rumbled in the distance as McKay touched down the jumper on the rugged forest floor. Inside the small ship, Naima and the two doctors peered out into the darkness of the foliage. A moment passed while Naima contemplated her next course of action.

The silenced annoyed an antsy McKay. "Your move, warrior princess."

The Satedan snapped out of her trance and phased through the back of the pilot seat to deliver a debilitating shock to McKay's body. He convulsed violently and his head smacked against the lighted controls. Before Keller could rise to his aid, Naima stepped into her path. Keller was suddenly struck by the calmness displayed by Naima's unthreatening gesture.

"Please, just sit…" Naima motioned for Keller to sit as she holstered the Wraith stunner. Keller complied and Naima continued. "Before we move on, I need to make something very clear: You are one of very few people in this universe who would ever make me think twice about killing you. Don't take that for granted, doctor…because I will respond if you don't comply. Anything about that you don't understand?" Keller nodded. Both women rose and exited the jumper, then walked into the darkness of the forest.

After roaming around in silence for almost an hour, Keller couldn't help but speak her mind. As she felt her way through the dense forestry, she spoke to Naima behind her: "Listen - I gotta ask something - there are two men lying in the infirmary who really need treatment. Thing is, I don't even know where to begin. They were infected with some type of pathogen when…when they encountered you. Any chance you did that on purpose?"

Naima thought for a moment before answering. "The people who built that place used a plaster mixed with a volcanic rock. It was a strong but highly toxic foundation rock. They always had to deal with a small number of workers who got sick from it, but it worked for them."

"So you know how they were treated?" Keller perked at the prospect of a solution, but sensed the distrust from Naima's tight lips. "Look, Naima, I honestly can't think of any argument that would persuade you to help us, but please-'' she stopped in an open field and spun to see the Satedan, "those men are dying. There has to be some part of you that cares." She struggled for an answer, "Oh! Colonel Sheppard - he told me that Ronon told him that his wife was a healer on Sateda - a doctor like me. Surely, she taught you that life-'' but before she could finish, Naima's eyes lit with fury and she stalked towards the doctor.

She clasped her hand around Keller's throat and thrust her against the trunk of a crimson tree. "Don't you ever talk about my mother," Naima hissed as Keller gasped for oxygen. "You will live a very long life so long as you don't mention her again. Do you understand?" Keller rapidly nodded.

Naima's rage slowly drifted away from her face as she noticed the deep red color of the tree bark she held the doctor against - the sole red tree in a forest of black wood. She dropped Keller absent-mindedly and examined the bark for imperfections. When all she saw where the vertical striations of the untouched bark, she stepped back from the tree and crouched to the ground. "It's not right," Naima whispered into the empty space of her arms.

A still-exasperated Keller established a sitting up position against the tree. She regained her stability and stared at Naima, and Keller noticed something in Naima's eyes that she had not seen since this whole situation began - fear. The previously indomitable Satedan was shaking in her boots as she looked at the truly alien world around her.

Keller dared to speak her piece: "I'm not saying that I know him as well as you do, but - correct me if I'm wrong - how do you know if this Ronon is your father?"

"I don't," Naima breathed. She broke her crazed stare and turned her gaze to Keller. Naima held out her brown-stained bandaged hand to Keller. She was reluctant at first, but eventually she took Naima's hand, and she saw a bright warm light…

"Colonel Sheppard - the jumper has been located." Lt. Suayan spoke to the back of the jumper where Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon, and SGA-3 loaded their weapons and activated their tracking devices.

"Land a couple clicks south of the jumper," Sheppard ordered, "Naima could be laying a trap."

"Yes, sir," Suayan responded. The whipping winds made the lieutenant's landing rockier than expected.

Owusu chimed in her reminder. "We need to hurry, Colonel. The winds will soon be fanning the flames."

"We get it, doc," Sheppard retorted. "Suayan and Owusu - stay with the jumper. Everyone else - move out."

They fled out of the jumper with their guns pointed in every direction, and immediately ascended the ramp of McKay's jumper. Teyla was the first to see McKay slumped over the ship's controls. "Rodney. Rodney! Wake up!" she shook him awake.

He exhaled sharply and dizzily glanced at Teyla. As she helped him into an upright position, McKay clasped his forehead. "Where have you guys been?"

But Teyla noticed the more pressing issue. "Rodney, where is Jennifer?"

McKay was suddenly gripped by the situation. "Jennifer? Jennifer! Naima must have taken her."

"Where were they headed?" Sheppard asked.

"I-I don't know," McKay stammered. "She stunned me before they left."

"Alright," Sheppard grabbed the detection device from the jumper's compartment. "Don't get up, Rodney. We'll all take different directions. We have one hour to find Naima and Keller." As they swiftly exited the jumper, the green foliage of the forest whipped back and forth, and the thunder began to descend from the midnight sky.

::::::::::

When Keller opened her eyes, she and Naima were seated in a foggy cerulean room with a cone of white light descending on their heads. The dewed grass Keller held between her fingers morphed into a flat ceramic-like floor. She stood, followed by Naima, and gazed around the endless space. "Where are we?"

"I'm not asking you to believe what I'm about to show you," Naima said. "See this memory and try to understand why my trust in you people is seriously lacking." She turned to look over her armored shoulder. Keller followed her gaze to see a metal cage with two people trapped inside. The space around the cage shifted and changed to form four dark figures. The two figures in the cage came to focus when Keller and Naima approached the familiar isolation chamber of the Atlantis base.

There they saw that one of the two figures was a younger Ronon, with brown chin-length waved hair and uniform facial hair surrounding his tense lips. Crouching in his toned arm was a comparably smaller child with long flowing hazel hair, no more than ten or twelve years old. Keller related the little girl's blood-soaked bandaged forearm to the vertical scarring barely hidden by Naima's wrist armor.

Keller's gaze refocused onto the isolation chamber when the entrance at the far end of the room hissed as it slid open. In walked Mr. Woolsey, in a white lab coat with a full head of hair, followed by two medical personnel, and John Sheppard, wearing black fatigues with the most ranking stripes on his chest. It seemed so strange to Keller how familiar they were, yet so unrecognizable at the same time.

When General Sheppard motioned to the armed soldiers, one stepped out of line to deactivate the shield around the chamber and open the blast door. Ronon broke his embrace of the little girl to stand directly in front of the door. His gaze held steady as Woolsey entered the chamber with a clipboard in his hand.

"Last chance, Ronon - where are the Replicator/human hybrids located?" Woolsey's terse tone echoed in the room.

"Not until you let my daughter leave," Ronon snapped back.

"Well, unfortunately, we cannot release your daughter on account of her special abilities," Woolsey placed his euphemism. "We require those abilities to solve the hybrid infestation. You should know this better than most. Your little Naima is one of them." The girl sitting in the chamber crawled backward, inching away from the man in the white coat. "Ronon, I'm a doctor - I won't harm your daughter."

"Then what do you call those cuts on her arm?" The protective father asked.

Sheppard interceded. "Behavioral conditioning. She wasn't being very cooperative, but she knows the name of the game now."

"Is that was this is to you," Ronon growled, "a game?"

"I could have done worse," Sheppard retorted.

Ronon instinctively lunged foreword, only to be met by Sheppard's weapon - a strange copper snake with red eyes. It released an electronic hiss when Ronon stopped in his tracks.

"Enough," Woolsey interrupted. Seeing no hope with the father, he looked past Ronon to peer at the little girl, "Naima? Just tell me the gate addresses of the settlements, and you and your father will be set free."

The young Naima rose to her feet. "I don't have any answers for you," she stubbornly replied, "_doctor_."

"Then neither of you leave me any choice," Woolsey sighed. He sidestepped to let Sheppard fire an electric pulse at Ronon's torso. Before he could react, the Satedan collapsed and fell on his back, convulsing violently on the stone floor.

Naima knelt on the floor to her weakened father's side. "Papa?" Despite her call, her father continued to shake uncontrollably. "What did you hit him with? Papa!"

Woolsey crouched next to Ronon and laid down his first aid kit next to himself. "I can make it stop, Naima," Woolsey focused intensely at the young Satedan. "But you have to tell me - on how many other planets are the hybrids located?"

"I won't tell you anything! Now make it stop!" she snapped.

The blood vessels in Ronon's eyes began to pop from the continued seizure. He clenched his teeth and dug his fingernails into his palms to keep the desire to scream at bay.

"You don't have anyone else in this universe who cares about you more than your father, Naima," Woolsey convinced.

"Shut up!" Naima blocked him out. "Papa!"

Woolsey began to raise his voice. "He has protected you your whole life, now _you_ protect _him_! How many other planets?"

Naima desperately reached for the white plastic box. Woolsey snatched it and swung it towards the energy field of the chamber, which buzzed and rippled before settling.

"How many?!" the doctor yelled.

Naima began to hyperventilate with hot sweat streaming down her cheeks.

"HOW MANY?!" he repeated with a bright red face.

"FIVE!" Naima finally gave in. "There are FIVE!" She fell back and buried her face in her shaking hands.

As Ronon's seizure began to subside, Woolsey rose to his feet and dusted off his knees. Still lying on the floor of the chamber, Ronon breathed heavily but showed signs of stabilizing.

Woolsey walked over to the entrance of the chamber and spoke to the general. "We have all the information we need," he calmly summarized. He nodded towards Sheppard's weapon. "We're done here."

When Woolsey finally turned back towards Naima and Ronon, he held the snake weapon in his hand.

Naima didn't see the weapon in time. One sharp intake of breath later, Woolsey shot a similar electric pulse at Ronon, and the Satedan's body went limp. His eyes glazed over and his hands relaxed.

The little girl sat still next to her immobile father. She reached out her hand to lightly shake him awake. Her attempt was futile - when she moved his body slightly, his head slumped to the side.

Seeing Naima sob uncontrollably, Woolsey took one more shadowed gaze at Ronon and shot one final blast at the lifeless body. The electric blast hit Ronon's abdomen and his body disintegrated into nothing.

Woolsey gave the reptilian weapon back to Sheppard, who holstered the weapon, ordered all military personnel out of the room, leaving Naima in the isolation chamber shaking from a completely different kind of shock.

All of the armed guards and Woolsey's medical assistants exited slowly from the room - all but a young female doctor with short brown hair and glistening grey eyes. Keller gasped as she looked into the face of this remorseful doctor, and saw her own.

"That-that's not me," she stammered, "why is that me? I've never even-'' She stopped when she saw the complete change of Naima's expression. The Satedan's tenacious demeanor had melted away to reveal red eyes matched with the tears streaming her dirty face clean.

Naima was about to respond when a deep, muddled voice pierced the memory's blue fog…

::::::::::::::

"Jennifer!" Sheppard's call shook the two women. The serenity of the blue room gave way to the whipping winds of the forest.

Naima withdrew her hand from Keller's cranium to see Sheppard pointed his weapon in her direction. She glared at the colonel who was ready to shoot his ARW, but due to her proximity to the doctor, he held his fire. The startling force of the winds did not phase his line of sight.

The Satedan bided her time until the select moment.

When Sheppard narrowed his gaze, Naima disappeared- a millisecond later his weapon let off an electric charge, which dissipated on the tree trunk next to Keller.

Naima reappeared right in front of Sheppard's face. She disarmed him, drop-kicked him, and locked him in her clasp, ready to snap his neck - all in a matter of seconds.

She was about to complete the deed when Keller interrupted. "Naima! Please, don't! He's not the one who killed Ronon!"

"He might as well have," Naima gritted. "You people come into our world and just take what you want - our resources, our lands…our _lives_!" Sheppard tried to release himself from her grip but his fists only caught air. She kicked the back of his legs and he fell to his knees.

"All I want is to be left alone," she started, "to find a place where I belong in this universe that is clearly not my own! You can't let me live my broken life?!"

"Not when you're about to kill my superior officer," Summers interrupted as he stepped out of the swaying bushes with his pointed ARW. Teyla also emerged from the shadows of the trees, but set aside her weapon to help Dr. Keller stand up.

"Whether or not he is your enemy," Ronon said as he entered the open field, "any Satedan would know that this isn't an honorable way to kill your opponent."

"Except when he commits a crime against Satedan humanity," Naima recited from the Satedan Warrior Code, "right, sir?" The approaching thunder accented her feral rage.

Ronon saw her point and was indecisive to holstering his weapon or not. The military man in him understood the danger she posed to his friend; but the father in him wanted to make peace with the only family he had left.

"Either way," she continued, "why should I listen to you? You're living with our enemy, and even if you are my father, you forgot about me a long time ago."

Ronon holstered his weapon. "That's not true," he whispered. His steadfast gaze tightened to a furrowed forehead that was frighteningly familiar to Naima.

"He's telling the truth, Naima," Keller affirmed. "I once treated Ronon for a Wraith enzyme overdose. He was in recovering for weeks. When I was treating his chest wound, I tried to remove that tribal necklace he has around his neck, and he almost took my hand off. I thought at first it was just withdrawal…"

Naima's stubborn expression held steady while Keller went on. "It had beads and feathers on it, but the largest item was a yellow bird talon with an inscription on it: an inverted semicircle over three horizontal jagged lines. I didn't think about it until I treated Captain Murphy - you used a knife to cut that same shape into the back of his shoulder…why?"

"So they would never forget what they took from me," Naima hissed. "Y'know, I never got my father's necklace back after they killed him."

"I'm here," Ronon approached softly. "I'm right in front of you."

"Be advised, sir!" Summers warned.

"Lieutenant, shut up!" Ronon yelled aside, then turned back to Naima. "What is it that you want more than killing Sheppard right now?"

Her sharp intake of breath was followed by a shuddered exhale. "A place to belong…"

"Then let him go." Despite the rumbling thunder around them, the two Satedans furiously held each other's gaze. "Let him go, Specialist."

With the eerie familiarity of this direct order, Naima released her grip on Sheppard's throat and pushed him to the ground.

The lightning had finally arrived when it struck the ground behind Keller and Teyla. The grass ignited into a blazing fire which consumed the forest behind the two women. Sheppard and Summers took Keller and Teyla on the alternate route toward the puddle jumpers.

"Sheppard to Suayan: fire up Jumpers 1 and 2! We're on our way!" The colonel looked back at his immobile friend. "Ronon! C'mon!"

"I'll catch up with you, Sheppard…" he quietly responded while still looking to Naima.

Realizing Ronon's conviction, Sheppard and the three others evacuated, leaving Ronon and Naima in the burning forest.

"What now, sir?" her voice still shaking with uncertainty rather than fear of the inferno around them.

"Well," he replied with a similar uncertainty, "right now you have three options: you can stay here and make a place for yourself," she scoffed at this suggestion, "you can come back to Atlantis, find a familiar Ring address and start over there, or…" he held out his hand, "you can come back and stay."

Naima stared at the familiar man's hand, but didn't immediately clasp it with her own…

As the fire gained on their heels, Sheppard, Teyla, Keller, and Summers spent the last of their energy to surmount the hills before the jumpers.

When they saw the ships in sight, Sheppard snatched the radio from his shoulder. "Head back to base, Suayan! We'll be right behind you!" The lieutenant obeyed the order and lifted off Jumper 1 with Dr. Owusu, and the remaining four ran into Jumper 2.

McKay was waiting to embrace Keller while a soot-faced Sheppard hopped into the pilot seat and activated the ship's locator. "C'mon buddy," he whispered to himself, "where are you?" Sheppard eagerly searched for a blue dot among the inflagration consuming the surrounding forest.

Sheppard was about to contact Ronon by radio when the blue dot suddenly appeared behind the right engine. It followed along the side hull of the ship until Ronon walked up the ramp - accompanied by Naima. Sheppard and Summers reacted to her presence with their weapons, but Ronon put his arm in front of her. "Wait, Sheppard, wait!" he persuaded. "She's on our side."

"I'm on _your_ side, not his," Naima corrected.

"I'm not letting her on base, Ronon," Sheppard scoffed with his weapon held steady.

Keller stopped coughing long enough to look up. "She can help Gibbs and Simon."

A huge tree stump crash-landed in front of the jumper. "Fine," Sheppard conceded. "We're outta here…" He put his weapon on the dashboard and raised the ship's controls to lift off the jumper.

Naima and Ronon took a seat on the cushioned benches next to Keller. McKay was wiping away the soot from Keller's face when she turned towards Naima. "You can help them, right?"

She paused before answering. "I've seen what happens to victims of the Turan Sickness. It's a horrible way to die." Naima looked around. "Not even you people deserve that…"

Keller gently placed her hand on Naima's shoulder. At first Naima flinched away, but when she saw the doctor's sweet smile, her tension melted away. "Thank you, Naima…"

When Sheppard landed in the jumper bay, he powered down the ship and opened the shuttle door. Keller and McKay exited the jumper followed by Naima and Ronon, who were met by the weapons of five SGA teams.

"Hold your fire!" Sheppard yelled as he emerged from the jumper. "She's here to assist us - clear a path to the infirmary!"

The whole party took a transporter to the downstairs sick bay where lieutenants Gibbs and Simon were being treated. The medical staff watching over them was trying to hold down the convulsing men when Keller and Naima walked in.

"Do you have any Wraith enzyme, doctor?" Naima asked.

Sheppard intruded. "Only what we confiscated from your facility." Naima glared at him but was immediately given a clear plastic bag full of scarlet liquid. She pried open one of the metal drawers to extract two large syringes and slammed it shut again.

She ripped one out of its packaging while Keller was updating her on their conditions. "You might want to know that Gibbs is allergic to aspirin and Simon developed anti-bodies to the Hoffan drug when we went over to--'' but before she could finish, the entire medical staff watched as Naima plunged the large needle into Simon's chest.

They all stood silent as she filled the second large syringe and stuck it into Gibbs. She placed her hand on Gibbs' abdomen and his organs clearly appeared in the lab light. Visible black residue was located in his lungs as they relaxed and contracted. When she removed her hand, the lieutenant's scrubs returned to view. Naima phased both of her hands into his chest and swam around as if to locate something within his body. She finally brought her hands up out of his chest - they were minimally bloodied and riddled with black particles. She walked over to the side table and emptied out the residue into two Petri dishes.

"There," Naima finished, "your doctors can analyze that until their brains fall out." She grabbed a towel to wipe off her hands and left through the entrance of the infirmary. She kept walking until Ronon caught up to her at the end of the hallway.

"Naima, wait," Ronon called after her. She stopped and leaned herself against the wall. "Hey, look at me," Ronon took her shoulder and turned her towards him, "what is it? What's wrong?"

"I could've killed them," she breathed as she avoided his gaze, "I could've let them die. It would have been two less problems to deal with."

"But you're above that," he assured her. "You showed honor towards your enemy, which is more than I can say I ever did. Hey, look at me," she obeyed, "you did a good thing."

"Honor supersedes convenience," Naima recited, "right sir?"

Ronon recognized an excerpt from the Satedan Code of Honor. "That's right…"


End file.
